EU ‘wise man’ set to unveil charter for shareholders

Date: 31/10/02

JAAP Winter, the EU's 'wise man' on company law, will unveil on Monday (4 November) a charter for shareholders' rights in an eagerly awaited report on corporate governance.

The report, ordered by the Single Market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein, is expected to feed into future EU policy to ensure companies - and their backers - avoid the fate of those who invested in Enron and Worldcom.

Winter, a legal advisor to Anglo-Dutch food and soap giant Unilever, will call for measures to force companies to lift the lid on opaque practices in their annual reports.

They will be obliged to reveal what checks and balances are in place to ensure firms are well-run and that executives cannot run amok.

Winter says shareholders must also have the chance to debate executive pay, share options and other benefits to management - and these must be fully disclosed in firms' accounts.

Shareholders must also have full voting rights at annual general meetings even if they live outside the company's home country. Electronic voting must be legal in all member states.

Jaap Winter, the EU's 'wise man' on company law, will unveil on 4 November 2002 a charter for shareholders' rights in an eagerly awaited report on corporate governance.